Methods for reducing startup time of optical disc drive and apparatuses thereof

Abstract

An optical disc drive with reduced startup time. The optical disc drive includes an instruction-receiving interface, a type-discriminating unit, and a controller. The instruction-receiving interface receives a user instruction from a user, wherein the user instruction indicates the type of an optical disc loaded into the optical disc drive. The type-discriminating unit discriminates the type of the optical disc according to the user instruction. The controller controls the optical disc drive to access the optical disc according to the discriminated type of the optical disc.

1 . A method for reducing a startup time of an optical disc drive loaded with an optical disc, the method comprising: 
 receiving a user instruction; and    discriminating a type of the optical disc according to the received user instruction.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user instruction is provided to the optical disc drive through a knob, a button, a touch panel, a remote control receiver, or a host interface.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 if the type of the optical disc is not successfully discriminated by the optical disc drive according to the received user instruction, examining whether the type of the optical disc is the same as a previously accessed disc type or a most frequently accessed disc type.    
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 if the type of the optical disc is not successfully discriminated by the optical disc drive according to the received user instruction, examining the type of the optical disc in accordance with a searching order until the type of the optical disc is successfully discriminated.    
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the searching order is determined according to a user input instruction.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the searching order is determined according to a usage history based on statistics of previously accessed discs, and the usage history is maintained by the optical disc drive.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein according to the usage history, a type with a first priority in the searching order is determined according to a previously accessed disc type or a most frequently accessed disc type of the optical disc drive.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the type of the optical disc comprises CD, SACD, DVD, HD DVD, or BD.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of discriminating the type of the optical disc comprises: 
 determining the optical disc to be a single layer disc, a dual layer disc, or a multi-layer disc according to the received user instruction.    
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 controlling the optical disc drive and accessing the optical disc according to the discriminated type of the optical disc.    
   
   
       11 . An optical disc drive comprising: 
 an instruction-receiving interface for receiving a user instruction; and    a type-discriminating unit coupled to the instruction-receiving interface for discriminating a type of an optical disc loaded into the optical disc drive according to the user instruction.    
   
   
       12 . The optical disc drive of  claim 11 , wherein the instruction-receiving interface comprises a knob, a button, a touch panel, a host interface, or a remote control receiver for receiving the user instruction.  
   
   
       13 . The optical disc drive of  claim 11 , further comprising: 
 a controller coupled to the type-discriminating unit for controlling the optical disc drive to access the optical disc according to the discriminated type of the optical disc.    
   
   
       14 . The optical disc drive of  claim 13 , wherein if the type of the optical disc is not successfully discriminated by the type-discriminating unit according to the user instruction, the controller further controls the optical disc drive to examine whether the type of the optical disc is the same as a previously accessed disc type or a most frequently accessed disc type.  
   
   
       15 . The optical disc drive of  claim 13 , wherein if the type of the optical disc is not successfully discriminated by the type-discriminating unit according to the user instruction, the controller further controls the optical disc drive to examine the type of the optical disc in accordance with a searching order in sequence until the type of the optical disc is successfully discriminated.  
   
   
       16 . The optical disc drive of  claim 15 , wherein the searching order is determined according to a user input instruction.  
   
   
       17 . The optical disc drive of  claim 15 , wherein the searching order is determined according to a usage history based on statistics of previously accessed discs, and the usage history is maintained by the optical disc drive.  
   
   
       18 . The optical disc drive of  claim 17 , wherein according to the usage history, a type with a first priority in the searching order is determined according to a previously accessed disc type or a most frequently accessed disc type.  
   
   
       19 . The optical disc drive of  claim 11 , wherein the type of the optical disc comprises CD, SACD, DVD, HD DVD, or BD.  
   
   
       20 . The optical disc drive of  claim 11 , wherein the type-discriminating unit determines the optical disc to be a single layer disc, a dual layer disc, or a multi-layer disc according to the user instruction.  
   
   
       21 . A method for reducing a startup time of an optical disc drive loaded with an optical disc, the method comprising: 
 determining a searching order adaptively; and    examining the type of the optical disc in accordance with the searching order until the type of the optical disc is successfully discriminated.    
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the searching order is determined according to a user input instruction.  
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the searching order is determined according to a usage history based on statistics of previously accessed discs, and the usage history is maintained by the optical disc drive.  
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein a type having a first priority in the searching order is determined according to a previously accessed disc type or a most frequently accessed disc type.  
   
   
       25 . An optical disc drive comprising: 
 a pickup head for accessing an optical disc loaded into an optical disc drive; and    a controller coupled to the pickup head for determining a searching order adaptively and controlling the pickup head to examine the type of the optical disc in accordance with the searching order until the type of the optical disc is successfully discriminated.    
   
   
       26 . The optical disc drive of  claim 25 , wherein the controller determines the searching order according to a user input instruction.  
   
   
       27 . The optical disc drive of  claim 25 , wherein the controller determines the searching order according to a usage history based on statistics of previously accessed discs, and the usage history is maintained by the optical disc drive.  
   
   
       28 . The optical disc drive of  claim 27 , wherein a type having a first priority in the searching order is determined according to a previously accessed disc type or a most frequently accessed disc type.